The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-12-24
THE MURDER OF JOHN.

Though Herod hesitated through fear of
the people and his own appreciation of Johns
character, and delayed his execution, Hero
dias, who had determined to silence him by
death, waited her opportunity, which was not
long delayed. On an anniversary occasion
Herod gave banquet to his courtiers. Sa-
lone, the young and accomplished daughter
of Herodias and Philip, who afterward be-
came the wife of Herod Philip H., the tet-
rarch of Iturea and Trachonitas (Luke iii.
u, greatly pleased Herod by appearing in
the banquet hall and entertaining his guests
with dance. Like another Xerxes, whose
courtly customs he may have attempted to
initiate esther v. 8, 6; vii. p, in the deliri-
um of his drunken dignity and approval,
Herod swore in the presence of his guests to
give her whatever she asked, even to the half
of his kingdom MARK vi. 23). And she, be-
ing instigated by her mother, who had cum
nil gly devised the bold scheme, demanded
Immediately the head of John the Baptist on
a platter from the banquet table.
THE CHARACTER OF HER0D was put to
severe test by the unexpected demand. He
feared the consequences of taking the life of
one so popular, who was esteemed great
prophet, and whom himself regarded as a
righteous ana truly pious man. The act would
not only be unpopular, but wrong also, ac-
cording to his own judgment. "The king
ESQ called) was grieved." Had he be encour-
ageously righteous, and not the weakling
that he was, he would have denied the request
of the maiden on the just ground that he had
no right to give what she had demanded. But
he had sworn in the presence of his guests to
give her whatever she asked, and he fea red
their ridicuIe if he refused to fulfil his oath.
Weakly yielding to unworthy motives, and
wholly surrendering his higher moral princi-
pies, he sent an officer to the prison.
banquet was probably held in or near the
castle of Machserus, where John was iDpris-
oned (see Study November 13),-who be-
headed John and brought his head and deliv-
cred it to the girl, according to her request,
who carried it to her mother who had insti-
gated the bloody dsed. The disciples of
John buried his headless body and reported
his death to JESUS, whose growing fame
awakened the guilty conscience of Herod to
torment him with the specter of John risen
from the dead-the ghost of dishonored and
murdered virtue.
HERODs AFTER CAREER.-ThoughJ John
did not actually rise from the dead, as Herod
feared that he had when he heard of the won
derful works of JESUS, yet the invisible pow
ers of the spiritual universe, by which he ex-
planned the reported works of JESUS, did rise
up and bring deserved retribution of the
wickedness that destroyed the righteous
prophet. Herod was soon after de Gated in
battle by King Aretas, his outraged father
in-law. Influenced by his ambitious wife, he
went with her to Rome to claim from the
Emperor Caligula, the title of King" but
wa. banished by him to Gaul or Spain, on
charge of treason, made by Herodias' IS BROTH
or, Agrippa, who had succeeded his uncle,
Philip as tetrarch of Iturea, and died in ex-
lie. Herodias, Notwithstanding her unscru-
pulous ambition, was noble enough to share
the fate of her exiled husband, of whose
downfall she had been the chief cause, though
her freedom and private fortune were offered
to be restored to her by her brother, who
had procured the favor from the Emperor.